Senate Challenges Health Insurer Spending Reports

Law360, New York (November 4, 2009, 5:50 PM EST) -- The six biggest U.S. health insurers spend a much lower percentage of customer premiums on medical services than industry lobbyists estimated — amounting to billions of dollars in savings, according to a new investigation from a U.S. Senate committee.

In a study of the so-called medical loss ratio — a measure of what percentage of each dollar of customers’ premiums insurers spend on health care — the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation found that the nation's largest insurers spent roughly 74 cents of...